Kalamazoo, Richland townships and Paw Paw village opt out of state health-insurance guidelines

KALAMAZOO —Kalamazoo and Richland townships and the village of Paw Paw all have opted out of the new state guidelines for public employees to pay 20 percent of their health in­surance costs.

Under Public Act 152, which was approved this year, munic­ipalities can pay no more than $5,500 for a single employee’s health care or $15,000 for a fam­ily, or must require employees to pay at least 20 percent of the total annual costs for medical benefit plans.

Union employees working under existing con­tracts are exempted until their contracts expire.

Cities, villages, counties and other local governments can opt out of the state require­ments, but must do so with at least a two-thirds vote of their governing boards or risk losing 10 percent of their state aid. School districts are not allowed to opt out.

Kalamazoo Township

The Kalamazoo Township Board, in a special meeting Tuesday, voted 5-1, with Trustee Ronald Reid dissenting, for ex­emption in 2012, but later voted 6-0 to insist the 19 nonunion employees affected and town­ship trustees pick up 5 percent of their insurance costs.

The income loss was soft­ened by a board decision to give the employees a 3 percent pay raise.

Township Clerk Donald Thall explained his support of the raise, in part, because employees still will be paying more for health insurance and “haven’t had a cost of living in­crease in the last three years.” He added: “Why penalize non-union employees?”

Even with the board’s vote Tuesday, Thall said union em­ployees with the township po­lice and fire departments will have to meet next year for ne­gotiations on the issue.

Richland Township

Also Tuesday, the Richland Township Board voted unani­mously to opt out of the state requirements.

Richland Township Clerk Jackie Light said Public Act 152 affects only two nonunion em­ployees of the township. Both now are enrolled in a health savings program in which they pay $500 premiums, but have $3,000 deductibles.

Richland Township Supervi­sor Alan Bussema said, “Opting out gives us the best option, not only for the township, but for the employees.”

Paw Paw

In Paw Paw, the village coun­cil also has voted to opt out of the state requirements.

Paw Paw Village Manager Larry Nielsen said the decision was made mostly because the village has good relations with its two unions and nonunion employees.

Additionally, Paw Paw’s employees have been under a pay freeze for the past two years.

“Going to those caps would’ve required us to ... grant more raises — about $1.20 per hour for each employee — to make up that takeaway in the health care to follow PA 152,” Nielsen said. The decision af­fects 33 Paw Paw employees.